St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, together with Guy's Hospital, Evelina London Children's Hospital, Royal Brompton Hospital and other sites. It is also a member of King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre, and is one of three sites used by King's College London GKT School of Medical Education.
The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and specialist tertiary care services for patients from across London and elsewhere. The current hospital building has 1248 beds and 34 wards. It opened in February 2012.
Nurse education consists of the theoretical and practical training provided to nurses with the purpose to prepare them for their duties as nursing care professionals. This education is provided to student nurses by experienced nurses and other medical professionals who have qualified or experienced for educational tasks, traditionally in a type of professional school known as a nursing school of college of nursing. Most countries offer nurse education courses that can be relevant to general nursing or to specialized areas including mental health nursing, pediatric nursing, and post-operative nursing. Nurse education also provides post-qualification courses in specialist subjects within nursing.
Matron is the job title of a very senior or the chief nurse in several countries, including the United Kingdom, and other Commonwealth countries and former colonies.
Nursing in the United Kingdom is the largest health care profession in the country. It has evolved from assisting doctors to encompass a variety of professional roles. Over 700,000 nurses practice, working in settings such as hospitals, health centres, nursing homes, hospices, communities, military, prisons, and academia. Most are employed by the National Health Service (NHS).
Lucy Osburn was an English nurse trained at the School of Nursing founded by Florence Nightingale. She is regarded as the founder of modern nursing in Australia.
Dame Sarah Ann Swift, GBE, RRC was an English nurse and founder in 1916 of the College of Nursing Ltd. which became the Royal College of Nursing. The College of Nursing created the first registers of nurses, a blueprint for the introduction of Nurse registration in the United Kingdom.
Dame Alicia Frances Jane Lloyd Still, was a British nurse, teacher, hospital matron and leader of her profession. She was one of the leaders in the campaign for state registration of nurses. Following the Nurses Registration Act 1919, she was a member of the General Nursing Council (1920-1937). As chairwoman of the General Nursing Council's first Education and Examinations Committee she helped establish the first national examination standards for the registration of nurses.
Theodora Turner, was a British nurse and hospital matron.
Agnes Elizabeth Jones of Fahan, County Donegal, Ireland became the first trained Nursing Superintendent of Liverpool Workhouse Infirmary. She gave all her time and energy to her patients and died at the age of 35 from typhus fever. Florence Nightingale said of Agnes Elizabeth Jones, ‘She overworked as others underwork. I looked upon hers as one of the most valuable lives in England.’
Eva Charlotte Ellis Luckes was matron of the London Hospital from 1880 to 1919.
Dame Anne Marie Rafferty FRCN is a British nurse, academic and researcher. She is the professor of nursing policy and the former dean of the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care at King's College London. She served as President of the Royal College of Nursing from 2019 to 2021.
Sarah Elizabeth Wardroper was an English nurse who was matron of St Thomas' Hospital, London, and the first superintendent of the Nightingale School of Nursing at that hospital.
Isla Stewart was an English hospital matron of St Bartholomew's Hospital in London and a founding member of the Royal British Nurses' Association.
The history of nursing in the United Kingdom relates to the development of the profession since the 1850s. The history of nursing itself dates back to ancient history, when the sick were cared for in temples and places of worship. In the early Christian era, nursing in the United Kingdom was undertaken by certain women in the Christian Church, their services being extended to patients in their homes. These women had no real training by today's standards, but experience taught them valuable skills, especially in the use of herbs and folk drugs, and some gained fame as the physicians of their era. Remnants of the religious nature of nurses remains in Britain today, especially with the retention of the job title "Sister" for a senior female nurse.
Dorothy Bannon, CBE was a pioneering British nurse who as Chief Matron-in-Charge of the Hospital and School Nursing Service of the London County Council. She was instrumental in the development of Britain's public-funded nursing service.
Isabella Barbour Pirrie, DCS (1857–1929), was the first nurse in the Belfast Union Workhouse Infirmary, establishing a nursing school there. She went on to become the first matron at the Deaconess Hospital, Edinburgh, established by Archibald Charteris as a training school for nurses.
Alice Reeves RRC was an Irish nurse and matron of Dr Steevens’ Hospital, Dublin. Described by surgeon, T. G. Wilson, as "undoubtedly one of the greatest nurses Ireland has ever produced." Reeves helped create the first rules of the general nursing council in the 1920s and she received the honour of a Florence Nightingale Medal.
Anne Campbell Gibson was matron of the Birmingham Union Infirmary (1888-1912) and notable for her contributions to workhouse nursing and pioneering the establishment of infirmaries separate from workhouses and staffed with trained nurses.
